James “King James” Wood is surprisingly charming in this LA Weekly interview. On being well-read:

I never seem very well-read to myself — I only notice the gaps, the thin bits, the bald patches (yes, the analogy with my hair is apt …) Only nowadays would I be praised for my breadth: At the time when Woolf was writing, for instance, in the 1920s and 1930s, it was assumed that a novelist would have, as part of her equipment, a thorough knowledge of the history of her form, in several languages. In this respect, Woolf wasn’t unusual. But to answer your question more directly: I jolly well should have read quite a bit, because that is all I do. I’m employed to be well-read! To borrow from Beckett, I sit on my arse all day, farting and thinking about Dante. Children fill the rest of the time.

Some “real” journalists are not as awed. Clarence Page (Chicago Tribune) on the Tweeting Revolution: “To me, Twitter is the great enabler for those who are intent on doing what’s ruining literature and political discourse today: Writing without thinking.” What he means is: “threatening my job.”

Stop the presses! Holden Caulfield is no longer relatable to today’s youth?? The New York Times simultaneously undermines Salinger’s classic coming-of-age and condemns today’s teenagers to dark, dark days of text-messaging and a “hyperactive pop culture metabolism,” gallingly citing Harry Potter as an example. (Wtf? Leave the kid wizard alone.)